Gigi Sohn’s Strange Bedfellows

Does a progressive activist who wants to weaken copyright and speech protections belong on the Federal Communications Commission? President Biden thinks so, and bizarrely so do the leaders of conservative Newsmax Media and One America News Network (OAN). Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy said Newsmax is “being sidelined in favor of a small number of mega-corporations who dominate the channel line-ups.” OAN President Charles Herring hailed Sohn’s commitment to “diversity in media.” The two execs may be hoping Sohn will target Sinclair and Fox News. But it’s an odd sort of conservative who supports a left-wing nominee who wants to be a speech regulator. Cable networks don’t ignore channels they think will be popular, and it isn’t government’s job to dictate which channels to take. For what it’s worth, OAN’s biggest cheerleader is Donald Trump, who has tried to drive his political supporters to the network. The OAN-Newsmax position is pure self-interest and has nothing to do with free speech or media diversity. Sohn has shown across her career that she wants less political diversity on the airwaves. She would be a polarizing and destructive commissioner at the FCC.